Statutory sick pay when software tracks absence (UK)

Many employers now record sickness through an app, a rota system or an HR platform that counts absences and flags patterns. The software decides nothing about the law: statutory sick pay (SSP) in Great Britain comes from Part XI of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, which changed on 6 April 2026. This page is for workers and employers. It sets out the current rules and where absence tools most often get them wrong. Northern Ireland has its own parallel legislation, which this page does not cover.

The short answer: since 6 April 2026, SSP is payable from the first day of sickness, with no waiting days and no minimum earnings test. The weekly rate is the lower of £123.25 and 80% of normal weekly earnings, for up to 28 weeks. It is paid for qualifying days, so the working pattern held in your scheduling system matters. An employer can set reasonable rules on how to report sickness, but the law limits what those rules can demand, and no agreement can cut SSP below the statutory amount.

Who gets SSP and what it is for

An employer must pay SSP for a day of incapacity for work when the conditions in sections 153 and 154 are met (SSCBA 1992 s151). A day of incapacity means a day on which the employee is, or is deemed to be, incapable through a specific disease or bodily or mental disablement of doing work they can reasonably be expected to do under the contract (section 151(4)). Any agreement is void to the extent it tries to exclude, limit or modify these rules, or makes the employee contribute to the cost (section 151(2)). A vendor contract or an app's default settings cannot change that.

What changed on 6 April 2026

The Employment Rights Act 2025 made three changes, brought into force on 6 April 2026 by SI 2026/373 (SI 2026/373):

• No waiting days. Section 155(1), which made the first three qualifying days unpaid, was omitted (s155). A period of incapacity for work can now be a single day, where it used to need at least four consecutive days (section 152(2), s152).
• No lower earnings limit. The rule in Schedule 11 paragraph 2(c) that stopped SSP for people earning below the lower earnings limit was omitted (Schedule 11).
• A new rate. The weekly rate is now the lower of £123.25 and 80% of the employee's normal weekly earnings (section 157(1), s157). The cash figure was set by the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026.

SI 2026/373 also has transitional rules for absences that straddle the change, so check those if a period of sickness began before 6 April 2026. Systems configured before that date may still hold the old three day wait or an earnings threshold, which would now underpay.

Qualifying days and the daily amount

SSP is paid only for qualifying days: the days on which the employee is required by the contract to be available for work, or days chosen to reflect the contract, as agreed between employer and employee, with at least one each week (section 154, s154). The amount for a day is the weekly rate divided by the number of qualifying days in that week, starting on Sunday (section 157(3)). For shift and variable hours staff, this means the working pattern recorded in a scheduling tool feeds directly into the pay. If the tool records the wrong pattern, the daily figure will be wrong. See AI scheduling and shifts in the UK.

Linked absences and the 28 week cap

Two periods of incapacity separated by not more than 8 weeks are treated as one (section 152(3)). An employee cannot receive more than 28 times the weekly rate in one period of entitlement from one employer (section 155(2) to (4)). Absence software that counts spells separately for attendance scoring still has to link them correctly for SSP.

How to report sickness: limits on the employer's rules

An employer can set a time limit for notice of sickness and a manner of giving it, if it takes reasonable steps to make the rules known. The time limit cannot require notice earlier than the first qualifying day of the absence, though it can set a specified time during that day. Where no rule is set, notice is due within seven days (SSP (General) Regulations 1982 reg 7). The employer's chosen manner cannot require notice to be given personally, in the form of medical evidence, more than once every seven days, on a document supplied by the employer or on a printed form (regulation 7(5)). Late notice is allowed for good cause, but in any event within 91 days (regulation 7(2)).

If notice was not given in line with these rules, the employer may withhold SSP for the days concerned, but that does not end the period of entitlement (section 156, s156). An employer that requires sickness to be reported only through an app should check that rule against regulation 7(5) and give a workable alternative to anyone who cannot use it.

Absence flags, disability and dismissal

SSP rules sit alongside other duties, including the separate right to time off for dependants when a family member, not the worker, falls ill. Automated triggers that count sickness absence and prompt warnings can bear harshly on disabled workers, which engages the Equality Act 2010 (see AI and the Equality Act). Any warning or dismissal that follows still needs a fair process (see grievances and discipline).

Practical steps

• Employers: check that payroll and absence tools pay from day one, have no earnings threshold, use the current rate and the correct qualifying days, and link spells within 8 weeks. Keep sickness reporting rules within regulation 7. A day sent home because systems are down is not sickness; it may attract guarantee pay instead.
• Workers: report sickness in the way your employer has made known, and keep a record of when you did. If your SSP looks wrong, ask how it was worked out. For pay rules more generally, see AI and the minimum wage and, for leave around a birth, maternity and paternity pay.

This page is general information on the law in Great Britain as at 31 October 2026, not legal advice.